McCain talks Iran pre-emption

September 24, 2008 9:00am

John McCain said the United States might “have to prevent” the threat of a nuclear Iran even if it meant pre-emptive war.

In an interview on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” over the weekend, interviewer Scott Pelley asked the U.S. senator from Arizona and Republican presidential candidate if it would be McCain’s policy “to engage in pre-emptive war against a country that might pose a threat to the United States, a country that hasn’t attacked us.”

McCain replied, “If it’s a provable direct threat. Suppose that the Iranians had nuclear weapons. And you had a whole lot of other information about Iranian intentions and you could make the case to the American people and to the world, I think it’s obvious that we would have to prevent what we’re absolutely certain is a direct threat to the lives of the American people.”

McCain’s Democratic rival, Barack Obama, has said he would not take the military option off the table in dealing with Iran but has stopped short of positing a pre-emptive strike.